Wedding Tips start here...

nh

Thanks for the tips katglasgow re. the wedding stationery.

I am a bit flummoxed by putting card through the printer. The card I ordered from madabout cards is 300msg, so will this get ruined when it goes through a printer? How do you get round this? I suppose I should just try it and see.

I will definitely check out a stationery suppliers before I order the whole lot. I have only ordered a few cards so far to experiment with.

Not getting married till August 28th but am well excited now! I like to be organised too. I think I will have organised everything after the cards are sorted. Just the service itself to consider now, does anyone have any good readings they like?

Jess_7477

I was looking for tiaras for my bridesmaids and came across one in the ebay shops.

Never know if ebay is a good idea or not have ordered a few thing and got let down once but thought I would give it a try as it was £12.00 and was what we were looking for. In the shops they were upwards of £40.00.

Anyway can't do links but the shop is called: Wedding Jewellery by Razzle Dazzle.

It arrived well packaged in a couple of days. Happy bridesmaids and happy bride to be! ;D

PS They are nothing to do with me, I just got a good service and wanted to share it if anyone else is looking for tiaras - hope this helps!

nh

Love the ticker Jess! I have been to do my own. I only fear it will get on everyone's nerves on the other boards where maybe people aren't so excited about my wedding!

Good luck next month!

nh

I am feeling really, really excited now. We have been engaged since last Christmas so I have had a long time to wait!

I have been looking at wedding video demos recently and all the couples have looked dead nervous - some of them looked like they didn't even like each other! - and I got a bit scared watching them because I don't want it to be like that.

But I have decided I am going to have a little glass (or two) of champagne before I go to the church and that will just relax me enough to settle my nerves.

Once Christmas is out of the way it will fly by (so everyone keeps telling me!)

How are things with you as you get closer - is it taking over yor life yet?

Jess_7477

It did take over our weekends for a while, but most of it is done now. I am just waiting for my dress to be finished and I think that will be after Christmas now.

I have really enjoyed the planning, the things that have been stressful are the things you can do anything about like waiting for RSVP's to come back has been a nightmare, we still haven't had some back!

I have decided I am going to hold off on the drink, I can't drink during the day as I will be asleep by 6. Also I really want to rememeber the day and we have a 10 hour flight the next day, not fun with a hangover!

nh

Thanks for that. I suppose I will have to get my card from elsewhere then! So you think 160gsm is OK? I suppose it will be cheaper too. Great!

frugal_dougal_3

Just a word of encouragement to all bride-to-be's

I must say that of all the dozens of weddings I have been to the most enjoyable were those that were done on a tight budget (including my own). I think that this is because friends and family like being involved other than just as guests.
I helped to decorate a drab village hall with other friends for a friends wedding, we had amazing fun doing it, it brought us together and it looked gorgeous afterwards. You could even ask them all to bring some food to the reception.
At the other end of the scale I have been to posh weddings and hated them because I felt that it was all such a waste of money!

nh

Dear everyone,
I am a new MSE member and is due to get married April next year.  I got some fab ideas from a work mate of mine and have been reading through everyones money saving ideas on wedding...So far we(my partner and I) have spent about £500 for the wedding dress, the bestman's shirt and tie and his shirt and tie also, bridesmaid dress, invitations and venue.  We would be very grateful ifanyone could give us some more tips regarding this matter....  Thanks!!!!  :)

Hi sheng! Welcome to MSE

There are so many ways to save on your wedding. I personally get 20% off the food at our reception cos we are getting married on a Sunday. That is quite standard round our way (Merseyside/Southport)

We are making our own invitations (at a cost of about £50 not £350), buying the cake from M&S (I wouldn't even have a cake actually, who ever eats it? But fiance wants one). i reckon that could save us £100.

If you go for the 'traditional' do I wouldn't bother with a toast, you can pay £3.50 per person just for awful sparkling wine! I went a wedding where it was just one glass of wine per person at the table and no one bothered. When I go to a wedding I don't expect all my ale to be bought for me!

But if you can afford it, I would say definitely have a video, or get friends who have video cameras to take lots of film. So many brides I have talked to say the day was just so surreal and flew by, they wished they'd had a video. But, saying that, videos weren't around in our parents' time and they survived so it is not essential, but I would say it was a really good investment (ours is £550 but we saw some for around £300)

No one wants to waste money, but I don't think it is too important to get the overall cost down, I just think you should be happy with every penny you spend, no matter how much it is. If there is something you really want, could you wait a year in order to save up for it? I wouldn't want to wait, I just want to get married, but it is another way of doing it if money is tight.

You could go to other areas of this board and save a few pounds here and a few pounds there and put it all toward the wedding, it that is what you wanted. As well as saving money on the wedding, save money in other areas of your life so you have more money for your wedding!

Enjoy the planning!

EDIT: Sorry just re-read you post and realised you have already booked to get married in April so putting it off is not an option but it may hekp others! Sorry

Jess_7477

I agree there are loads of areas you can cut back on and nobody will ever know.

We did our own invites on the PC and then had a friend of the family print them for us, they didn't charge us as they did it as our wedding present. Another friend has made the cake, and we got my aunt to make the favors. The best thing I found has been to figue out what people you know and what talents they have and ask them to help! Most people are more than happy to be doing something to help you on your big day.

I have also had my dress made, which you would think would cost more but it is half the price I have seen them for in the shops and it is exactly what I want. It will also be a one off and I won't see a size 8 model in a magazine wearing it!

We are getting married in the winter so the hotel have given us 20% off the reception and also the room hire, free drinks on arrivel and a room for the night for us and both sets of parents. I wanted a particular photographer who I know is good but not cheap but they knocked some money off.

We also had our wedding bands made, my Fiance found one he really liked but it was £1000, so he took a picture to the ring designer and he has made the same ring for £400.

We have asked the bridesmaids to pay for their dresses as our wedding present, which they were more than happy to do and all the men are paying for their suits Fiance's is free becasue there are more than five in the wedding party!

We have asked a friend to do the video for us, someone else with a posh car is taking me to the venue, didn't see the point in paying money to hire one.

The one thing we haven't saved on is our honeymoon, we are going to the Maldives! Only 6 weeks today till the big day and I am so excited!!

Jay-Jay_4

Oh flip!

I'm getting married on 2nd August and haven't done a thing yet You lot have just made me feel a bit panicky :-/

I reckon I'll pick up a dress nearer the time and was just going to print out some invites on fancy paper :-/ Mines only an informal ceremony at a castle so don't know if I should be contacting them to arrange things. We've booked and paid a deposit but that's all!

Blimey..... do I feel like a slacker ;D